"Could Orwell’s ‘1984’ Be Made Into A GAME? How?" Topic

I try to read it* every decade or so, but this time it dawned on me …

1) Could it be turned into a game of some kind?
2) Would the game end up looking like the film's Equilibrium and Fahrenheit 451, or like something else entirely different?
3) What would the objectives be? How do you establish a victory?**
4) What rules?
5) What Figures?
6) What terrain?
7) Anything else?

So, are you like Greg in ‘Meet The Parents' (2000), and can milk anything, meaning that you can make ANYTHING into a game?

Dan
* For those who have never actually read it:
link
link
** Would you acquire tokens like these?
TMP link

yeah its on CBS called Big Brother

already been done?

link

honorable mention?
link

Oh, that's easy -- move to California and you can play it every day!

No.
I don't approve of torturing Winston Smith.

You have always approved of torturing Winston Smith.

Maybe play one of the on-going wars rather than the specifics of the book.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

If memory serves, didn't SPI's board game WW3 have a 1984 scenario? Obviously not that suitable for miniatures, but it is a wargame. I think it was a three player game. Never played that scenario, but back when it came out, we played the West vs Soviet a couple of times.

Hey Dan, I read it every decade or so myself, except I think I'm going to start watching the 1984 movie version of 1984 instead. I think that was extremely well done. Gaming, you'd have to do an RPG, wouldn't you, in order to capture the mood and feel of the oppressiveness of the regime? I always was intrigued by the never ending war going on in the background. Like Bunkermeister, maybe game that. All the propaganda posters and bleak urban settings would be fun to do.

Maybe play one of the on-going wars rather than the specifics of the book.

…and then declare that side A won, side B won and that the game never actually happened.

I would think something like the game "Clue", only with one sided trying to find the clues to hunt down the dissident, and the dissident player getting to alter cards, put in disinformation, or otherwise try to evade capture.

It should be a survival horror type game, really.

I think 1984 would make a good game ! Some creative designers could do it I'd think !

Would like to see some specially made figures not only counters. The board may look like monopoly or even better Space Hulk. With 3d terrain/furnishings, etc. Like something Copplestone makes … copplestonecastings.co.uk

It could easily be made into a dozen games, it's really rich.

It could be a setting for the Drama System RPG, or Wilderness of Mirrors, or Microscope. You could also do an investigative RPG where the characters are hunting traitors, but gradually have moral awakenings and turn against The Party.

You could develop a werewolf derivative, or seven. Similarly, you could turn The Resistance on its head and root out traitors.

The the three-way war where alliances periodically shift could be a fantastic wargame, though it would take some interesting engineering. Anytime someone gets out front… Actually I guess you could just play Diplomacy.

And then, of course…

Stay Alert!
Trust No One!
Keep Your Laser Handy!

Orwell's 1984 was seminal. Some huge proportion (a quarter? a third) of modern culture, including games, can trace influences back to George.

In a sense, it already has been: link

Ron

Would you enforce the use of Newspeak among the players?

link

Dan

Would you enforce the use of Newspeak among the players?

Oldthinkers unbellyfeel speakwrite.

At its largest, it comes close to the initial Secrets and Propaganda phase of FB's Nuclear War card game, though the entire game, with its potential for cycles of war and peace, could easily be viewed through the lens of Orwell.

Would you enforce the use of Newspeak among the players?

Absolutely! How else do you issue orders to your characters?

But, yeah, at its base 1984 (Animal Farm, The Trial) is "man against society", which is a pretty rich framework with lots of options.

I have done some games where we used cards to pseudo-randomize the players' orders and objectives. Objectives may or may not align with the official team goals. Orders were also gradually revealed throughout the game, so you weren't even sure what your goal was (were you being set up?).

It's not the same thing, but it sets up a framework where there is basic doubt about the ability to trust your allies or even your enemies. I think that captures the feel of those type of novel.

With the onset of Political Correctness in the late 80s, Dan, we have been Doubleplusgood Newspeaking for going on 3 decades!

Yep.

Dan

Winston Smith:

Yeah, do it to Julia!

6) What terrain?

Giant cubicle farms (like in Dilbert.) Play starts at one corner, and a message/order makes it's way to the opposite corner (a la the game 'Telephone'), by which time it will no way resemble the original. Points accrue by avoiding being labeled a traitor, and also by turning in other players as traitors. Nobody actually wins in the end, it's just another day of surviving… ;-)

That works! :)

Dan

I think we might all be plying a 1" = 1" scale game right now.

I think the military hardware mentioned is floating fortresses and bombers. Still, given the year, I expect a naval game would probably work best. It might resemble Dystopian Wars.

On the other hand, the social background of Ogre is pretty Orwellian and mass nuclear tank battles are certainly apt for the late fifties. Yes I know it's set in 1984 but it's 1984 as seen from the late fifties.

> Would you enforce the use of Newspeak among the players?

There's at least on RPG that does this sort of thing! (:

"OG: Unearthed Edition," written by Robin D. Laws and published by Firefly Games, is a role-playing game of those early days of caveman history. As the game quickly points out, you aren't one of those smart cavemen, the ones who invented fire and the wheel. No, you play one of the other guys. The ones who struggle to find the words for "run away." The ones who get stepped on by dinosaurs. … One of the main gimmicks of the game and an incredibly fun aspect is language. You only have 18 words to choose from in caveman speech, with such notable gems as "go," "bang," "smelly" and "rock." But the real trick is, you don't have all 18 words. Oh no, that would make you an Einstein among cavemen. Most have only a handful of words, about 3-8, they can use. A few cavemen have more, and some are even intelligent enough to invent new words, but in a world where language equals power, they aren't likely to share those new words anytime soon. Not with you, anyway."

link

Whoa, that's brilliant!

Dan

Objectives may or may not align with the official team goals. Orders were also gradually revealed throughout the game, so you weren't even sure what your goal was (were you being set up?).
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This was one of the basic ideas behind the classic pencil and paper RPG 'Paranoia'. The Computer had a mission that needed to be completed by a team of troubleshooters (i.e. your group's player characters). That mission's goals might then be "influenced" by the High Programmers before the players even heard about it. The various secret societies that each player was (secretly, of course) a member of might then also add their own little extra additions to the orders that the player characters had received.

Of course, Paranoia was meant to be played more in fun than anything else. It is, after all, a game that gave the players five lives… er clones… and expected the players to use them up at a rapid rate.

I LOVED Paranoia!

And yes, it was an archetype for hidden and variable objectives mechanics that I use in games.